My Concepts for New KO Units

With the battletome teased for later this year, I wanted to share my wishlist for new Kharadron Overlord units:

Grundstok Marshal: This one is probably the most likely to actually be released, following the one hero/one battletome trend. I see it as a regiment leader like the Admiral, able to take a Guild officer and any grundstok units. An armored dwarf brimming with weaponry that would buff Thunderers in his vicinity.

Cargo Loaders: Everyone want’s a melee focused troop, but I think melee should come with drawbacks for KO. My proposal is a melee troop that cannot be transported by the ships. The cargo loaders are exo-suit wearing dwarves (think Brokk Grungsson without the Endrin balloon) that load heavy cargo at docks. The exo-suits would give them extra movement, and perhaps one in three can carry a grappling hook to pull enemies into them.

Tamed Harkraken: This is the unit I want most desperately, I read about them in the lore and think they’re awesome. I think we need more unit variety. I propose a Monster/beast unit with “handler” tokens that function like the tokens for the Spawn of Chotec, although instead of adding control, they add movement by prodding the beast forward. It’d have a large number of anti-infantry attacks and a couple anti-war machine attacks. Plus a couple rampages; one where it spews inky smoke to escape and one where it grapples an enemy monster/war machine.

Aether storm: Might be my most controversial pitch, but I think KO needs a manifestation. It’d be fairly weak since we aren’t a magic faction, but can be cast by a few Guild Officers (Khemist and Navigator for sure, perhaps Endrinmaster?). I see it being anti-magic in some way and obscuring to provide cover. This way, if you take a regiment with a wizard, you can still choose to bring a generic manifestation. In the lore, the KO use aether as a weapon frequently, I just want to be able to play the manifestation game!

Zonbek: Lastly, my pitch for faction terrain is pretty simple. Zonbeks are lighthouses/outposts in the lore and I think it’d make a great terrain piece. Provides long range firepower and some other bonuses, perhaps the ability to bring back an infantry unit 1/game? As reinforcements pour out of the Zonbek

There are a few suggestions I see around the KO community a lot and I wanted to give my thoughts on these as well.

Boarding party: I don’t think this makes sense as a new unit, because in my eyes the Arkanaut Company already fills this narratively speaking, and outside of KO v KO battles other factions wouldn’t have large vehicles to board.

Steam tank: This suggestion is crazy to me, because the KO live on floating islands. A land vehicle wouldn’t make any sense, and if you made it into a flying vehicle, then you’ve just created another Gunhauler

Steam mech/mechsuit: Same as the steam tank, but I think a smaller exo-suit could work, hence my cargo loader suggestion

Let me know your thoughts! I love discussing potential new releases